Logo by Tom Purves

8:46 PM
Tekken 2 intro
I uploaded the Tekken 2 intro by request.  You can find it in the videos section.  Note that since this game is well over a year old, I wouldn't normally put it up.

6:20 PM
Possible Quake 2 demo release tonight
There is a big rumour floating around that a Quake 2 test might be released tonight.  On Undernet IRC, the #quake2 channel says it's confirmed.   Keep an eye out for it.

1:44 PM
CPU Monitor for ASUS motherboards
This program allows you to watch the temperature of your CPU right on your desktop.  Although the temperature monitoring facilities of the LM78 set can only be described as somewhat inaccurate, it's certainly not bad.  It only works with Windows 95.  Get it from http://www.kaotica.com/asus.   This website also has a utility for changing the EPA logo that comes up on your screen at bootup.  If you are inclined to risk flashing your BIOS for this little vanity, then this utility is for you.  :-)

8:58 PM
IE 4.0 fix now available
The fix is now available.  It was hidden down a little bit in a bunch of headlines on the IE 4.0 page.

Download the fix

2:22 PM
Already?
Another security flaw has been found, this time in IE 4.0.  It supposedly only allows the intruder to read text or HTML files.  A fix is expected as early as today.

ZDNet's story

Intel competitors working to make MMX extensions compatible
Each of the major players has finally realized that they need to work together to make their extensions compatible with each other.  Without compatibility, the market will fragment and there won't be anybody left but Intel and a bunch of incompatible clone chips.  There are way too many details in each companies' roadmap to list here, so just read the article.

Infoworld's story

4:24 AM
Netmeeting 2.1 Release Candidate available
Get it from the Microsoft Netmeeting website.  I'm not too sure what's different hear, except maybe some compatibility fixed with 2.0 versions.

Discussing gameplay issues
Believe it or not, there are some decent solutions to problems that need fixing in games.  I thought of a great idea to balance out Player Killing (PK'ing) in UO.  Create a volunteer cop force that can jail PK'ers after catching them (by killing them, I guess).  If a PK'er is jailed, he loses a lot of stats and money in the bank, too.  Why is this necessary?  Because PK'ing is so freaking easy to do that PK'ers amass huge quantities of gold and junk that they can just store.  When they die occasionally from a well-organized attack, they don't even lose any stats!   Ghost, resurrect, buy or wear some stolen stuff, BOOM, back in 5 min.  What the hell is that?  It makes killing PK'ers a futile gesture.  PC's are everywhere, PC's are easy targets, and PC's carry a lot more good stuff.

Good people, on the other hand, have to kill monsters.  Which takes time, since they are scarcer, and they don't give you nearly anything as good as your average PC.   When you lose stuff that you amass as a good guy, it matters.  As a bad guy, it doesn't.  When you die as a good guy, it matters.  As a bad guy, it doesn't.   Seriously, look at all that.  Is there any reason NOT to be a PK'er?  Not really.

The problem is, there are so many freaking idiots who think the status quo is the best way to handle things that you can never make any headway arguing with these fools.  I seriously wish I could just walk into some gaming companies and just lay down the law.   It's like old people and Social Security.  It's obviously better for the general populace to do away with the old system and replace it, but you've got a bunch of single-issue elderly who want their Social Security because it's free money.  I'm right, but you insist that you are right because you know it benefits you.  It's the same thing with these idiots.  I hear arguments like "Who wants to pay 9.95 to sit in jail for a couple of days?"  Is that the dumbest question you've ever heard?  Who's the dude who ran out murdering people left and right for loot?   You're lucky you only get a couple of days!  Nobody said you have to PK people!  The fact is, PK'ers are getting what is basically a free handout in terms of game balance right now and they don't want it to end because that'll be the end of the free ride.

Origin needs to suck it up and fix the balance.  PK'ing is very easy and very rewarding.  There needs to be a correspondingly harsh punishment on the other side of the spectrum.  Unfortunately, it's a nebulous issue to most people.  I've played games so much I see this kind of stuff very clearly after a few days.  So even when you contradict them, they don't really understand what you are saying and prattle on like nothing happened.

7:18 PM
USB speakers
These are cool.  Altec Lansing will be producing these, as will other companies, I'm sure.  The speakers receive a pure digital stream over USB and then the speakers convert the audio and play it back for you.  It's a lot better then sending the signal to your speakers with your sound card, although it remains to be seen how much better the D/A conversion at the speaker level will help the audio quality as opposed to the sound card.  It also obviates the most important component of a sound card, playback, although you'll still need a sound card for mic and line ins, unless they find a way to dump those in the speakers too.   You'll need USB support in the OS too.  Win95 has it with the OSR 2.1 update, and NT 5.0 will get it too.

5:00 PM
Switched to IE 4.0
Netscape is officially not my primary browser as of yesterday.  It's a slow resource hog and IE pretty much beats it hands down.  As far as I'm concerned, Netscape has dropped the ball in so many ways that I'm actually glad I can switch away from their software.  The primary feature I was looking for was drop-down bookmarks in the personal links bar, and it seems to have been done properly in IE 4.0.  The best way I can describe this is that it's like having multiple bookmark categories right there on the toolbar that you can click on.  Netscape 4.x did it and IE 4.0 PP2 didn't...PP2 opened a file folder with your bookmarks in it instead.  IE 4.0 final does it, but the implementation is slightly broken.  Only the first menu you pick to click on will work.  The rest come up as huge blank drop-down menus.  However, it works well enough for me to drop Netscape completely, since IE 4.0 is better in many other ways.

What also helped me switch was a great utility called URLMenu that mostly takes care of the problem with accessing your bookmarks quickly.  This program is basically like having a bookmarks button in the Windows tray area..simple and fast.  I've been looking for that for ages.

Another note on those NEC's below, the outlet is also selling 14.4 PCMCIA modems for $9.99 a piece.  If you really plan on surfing the web on the go (and don't expect to do it on battery power, your machine will die in about 5 minutes with the modem in use), this might be a decent deal.  I'm trying to figure out how I would go about using a 14.4 PCMCIA modem and I can't think of many good scenarios.  If I was a heavy user of the Internet features, I would get a 28.8 modem, $9.99 be damned.  If I wanted it for portable use, I'd need a way to deal with the battery life issue and a way to get wireless connectivity.  If I wanted it for home use...well, that would be stupid.  The only thing I can think of is that it might be OK if you wanted to check your e-mail occasionally from a hotel room or something.  Still, at $9.99, it probably doesn't merit the amount of thought I've already put into it.  Either get it, or don't.

2:30 PM
NEC MobilePro 400!
Say thank you!  For what, you ask?  For this info...PC Factory Outlet (comprised of Packard Bell, NEC, and Zenith) is selling the NEC MobilePro 400 for only $69 refurbished!  They were selling factory new models for $89, but those are sold out.  There are about 200 left of the refurbs, and I just ordered 4 for me and my friends.  90 day warranty, too, you can't go wrong.  Kinda sucks, but they had to charge me tax since I'm in PA.   Haha, just kidding!  This deal is way too awesome to complain.

Oh yeah, some more info on the MobilePro 400.  First of all, these units are upgradable to WinCE 2.0 for $99 straight from NEC, read the announcement.   They come with 4MB RAM and 8MB ROM.  The only difference between the 400 and the 450 is that the 450 has backlight and a bunch of extra software.

4:34 PM
Testing your browser for 128-bit encryption
Sometimes I download my browser and I forget whether I installed the 40-bit or 128-bit version.  There aren't really a lot of people out there trying to steal your credit card number in this fashion, but it's still good to have.  To test your browser in case you forget, you can always visit Wells Fargo's online banking site, which will report back to you the status of your browser when you click on the button.

Intel reveals first details of IA-64 architecture
Well, not really, everybody pretty much knew the basic details beforehand, but now it's more or less official.  Intel expects the chip to be released in 1999 on a 0.18 micron process.  The chip will be using a VLIW instruction set which relies on the compiler to deal with branch prediction issues and speculative loading, among other things.  Merced, the first implementation of IA-64, will have a IA-32 (x86) compatibility mode.  Intel has even already begun working on the successor to Merced, which will, of course, be even faster.  IA-64 processors will be positioned as workstation class processors and not as mainstream processors for at least the next five years, because Intel has a comfortable lead over their competitors and they don't want to disrupt the market.  By the way, Tom's Hardware Guide seems to be giving a day-by-day rundown of the Microprocessor Forum...it's definitely worth a look.

ZDNet's story

6:16 PM
First info on AMD's K7 revealed
A lot of shockers at this week's Microprocessor Forum as AMD disclosed that the K7 will integrate an L2 cache and more surprisingly, be mounted on cartridge-style packaging similar to Intel's Pentium II and fit into the same slot (mechanically, it is almost certainly not compatible with Slot 1).  However, AMD will be using the Alpha's EV6 bus protocol, not the Slot 1 bus protocol used in Intel's Pentium Pro and Pentium II lines.  According to Digital representatives, this also means you could plug an Alpha into the same slot with some work.

Problems with low yields on the K6 have been plaguing AMD lately.  Nevertheless, AMD is planning to push bus speeds for its processors to 100 MHz in the first half of next year and also offer the K6+, which will also integrate 256K of L2 cache onto the chip.

ZDNet's story
Infoworld's story

Windows CE 2.0 revealed
The next generation in portable Windows has been announced.  Among the most significant changes are the inclusion of Pocket Powerpoint and support for color LCD screens.  Visit the website for a boatload of information and a look at all the cool new product announcements from companies (as well as upgrade programs).

Microsoft's Windows CE website

10:52 PM
More info on Intel IA-64 architecture
Well, in case you're interested in learning about some of the stumbling blocks Intel will be encountering in the massive jump from present day IA-32 architecture to IA-64 architecture (Merced), read this article.

EE Times's story

Maxtor's DiamondMax UltraDMA hard drives and overclocking
Hmm, I hope I haven't mentioned this before.  Anyhow, back when we were setting up my friend's P2-266 (which is nicely overclocked to 300...he's a little squeamish about trying anything in the 333 MHz range) we were having some funny problems which we tracked down to the combination of UltraDMA mode and higher bus speeds like 75 MHz.  Since then, from our own personal experience and from hearing from other people, it seems that the DiamondMax is terribly bad about tolerating 75 or 83 MHz bus speeds in UltraDMA mode.  Since there are many comparable drives which don't have such a problem with it, I'd suggest you go with something like the DeskStar or Fireball ST instead.  It's not a huge difference, but it won't cost you anything to avoid the problem either.

No WinCE for me :-(
Unfortunately, not only was my friend not able to get me the 450, the floor model was a 2MB 400 and they had a backlog of 13 people waiting for the 450!   Well, it's not a big deal to me, frankly, so to heck with it!  By the way, FrontPage is turning out pretty well for me.  It seems to have done something weird by removing all the bullets I had in front of the topic items.  That's annoying, but passable until I figure things out.  It has simplified publishing my web page to the server immensely, though.  Now I just click a button and BOOM!, everything is synced.   It also timestamps my web pages, which is a good thing.

Links
Did you notice the links section in the table of contents is now active?   It's terribly sparse right now, but I'll update it with some more stuff eventually.  

5:44 PM
3COM PalmPilot prices reduced
I think this actually happened on Friday, but anyhow, the PalmPilots are now about $50 cheaper across the board, starting the the PalmPilot Personal Edition at an ESP of around $250.  In the meantime, my friend in Houston is attempting to buy me the last NEC MobilePro 450 that he can find at CompUSA for $149 (I hope), and it's a floor model.  Wish him luck.

TechWire's story

4:03 PM
Pictures of various junk in my computer
I always meant to put these up so that you guys could see how I rigged things up.  Well, here they are.

Here's a picture of my Righteous 3D with some heatsinks I put on there that I bought from Tom Mosher at SDS Mark II.  Normally these things are supposed to attach with thermal tape.   I've had extremely bad luck with thermal tape...the stuff never keeps the sink stuck to whatever you want it attached to.  I had a PC Power and Cooling fan once that kept falling off.  It was essentially useless.  My friend had this model epoxy stuff that I could brush onto the chip so I brushed a very thin layer on and stuck the sinks to the chip.  Honestly, I don't know if this is a good idea.  But, whatever, right?

Here's a picture of the inside of my case.   That blue cable is the wide scsi cable that I bought locally.  You can see all the cards and the two Pentium Pro's with their heatsinks too.  It's pretty crowded in there.

7:26 PM
Review of Marvel Super Heroes
I wrote up a review of Marvel Super Heroes just as a test of FrontPage and partly because I wanted to try something a little fancier.  There are even some MPEG-1 video clips of the game there for your enjoyment, courtesy of the Rainbow Runner's capabilities.

3:16 PM
CuteFTP 2.0 released
CuteFTP 2.0 just got released.  It's a great FTP program, but honestly, I think what would have made this version truly worthy of the 2.0 moniker, URL support and reliable auto-resume features, don't seem to be in there.  Still, for general purpose FTP, it's still the client I use, and its file resume feature is far better than the retarded implementation in WS_FTP.  If you are using WS_FTP, dump it now!  For good file resume features, you're going to have to look to Bullet Proof FTP or Net Vampire.

ftp://cuteftp.com/pub/cuteftp/cute2032.exe

StarCraft trailer
This is really cool.  Unfortunately, it tells you almost nothing about the game.  If you have time, d/l this overnight to check it out.

Main executable movie (59MB)
SMACKW32.DLL - You might need this

3:34 AM
Matrox Rainbow Runner for only $139?
I've been flipping through ads and stuff to try and find out where I can get a hold of one of those $99 WinCE NEC MobilePro's when I came across an ad for the Rainbow Runner selling at CompUSA for only $139 (after a $60 rebate).  Boy, do I feel gypped.  What was an awesome deal at $250 is a crazy deal at $139!  Oh man.   Anyhow, if you have a Mystique, get yourself one.  It's nice.

Microsoft FrontPage
As a small experiment to try and automate some of the grunt work in maintaining this page, I've been playing around with MS FrontPage for the past 24 hours.   I just published this page via its Web Publishing function...I hope everything turns out OK.